Best asian travel guides according to redditors

We found 341 Reddit comments discussing the best asian travel guides. We ranked the 142 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

Next page

Subcategories:

Afghanistan travel guides
Bangladesh travel guides
Bhutan travel guides
Cambodia travel guides
China travel guides
Asia travel books
Hong Kong travel guides
Indian travel guides
Indonesian travel guides
Japanese travel guides
Laos travel guides
Macau travel guides
Malaysia & Brunei travel guides
Maldives travel guides
Mauritius travel guides
Mongolia travel guides
Myanmar travel guides
Nepal travel guides
North Koreea travel guides
Pakistan travel guides
Philippines travel guides
Singapore travel guides
South korean travel guides
Sri Lanka travel guides
Taiwan travel guides
Thai travel guides
Tibet travel guides
Turkish travel guides
Turkmenistan travel guides
Vietnam travel guides
Asian Georgia travel guides
Armenia travel guides
Southeast Asia travel guides

Top Reddit comments about Asian Travel Guides:

u/tchuckss · 16 pointsr/japancirclejerk

How, you ask? The guy has the answer!

> Oi vey. The well-documented and well-recorded analysis about hokkaido culture being half-western and half-japanese in the sense that you have SOME Individuality but not complete individuality. the collectivity is in check over there but not to the point where its not present. many people who have analyzed the culture of hokkaido claim this is true, are you refuting that research?

On and his research consists of this book which he claims to have read and shown him the truth. He's never actually been to Hokkaido.

u/DingDingDensha · 13 pointsr/japanlife

Baye McNeil, also known by his blog as "Loco in Yokohama" has written, I think a couple of books by now, on the subject of racism in Japan, and his perspective on it. Here are some more links, but they go directly his blog, and to the book on Amazon. He's a smart, articulate guy with a lot of interesting things to say based on his own experiences.

http://www.amazon.com/Hi-My-Name-Loco-Racist-ebook/dp/B006Y11TXG/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0SGDTV0MDGYJCPBH2RWA

http://www.locoinyokohama.com

u/sublunari · 11 pointsr/psychology

I also live in Korea--I'm a white half Jewish guy married to a Korean with a mixed-race son--and I want to describe the experience of living in a country with such absurdly high population density, since I think that this is more important than the various cultural factors working against procreation in East Asia. I was raised in New York City but spent most of my life in New England.

So. You're at home in Korea. It's Sunday morning. Want to go hang out somewhere with your s/o? Let's head to the river. You walk outside, and there are people everywhere. If you take the subway, it'll be so crowded inside the cars you might have to wait for the next one to come along. If you want to drive or take a bus, you can expect to wait on a huge eight-lane highway in idling traffic regardless of where you want to go. The cafes are full. There are lines outside all of the restaurants, and if you manage to sit down at a table you'll be surrounded by talking eating people who have few qualms about staring at you or commenting on whatever stands out about you (even if you yourself are Korean). If you manage to get to the river, you'll have to contend with people riding their bikes in random lanes, people walking on the wrong side of the path, and other various annoyances.

Faced with all of these obstacles, you two decide to just go for a walk. You have trouble navigating the sidewalks (when there are sidewalks) because, as I said, there are people (mostly old grumpy people) everywhere, and it's impossible to walk for a minute without bumping into someone, without having to stop and wait, without having to change directions. Don't forget to watch out for the motorcycles zooming along through the crowds. Crossing the street also takes time. You spend a lot of time, in fact, waiting for lights to change, as though the entire country is giant factory, instead of a warm comfortable pleasant place to live.

Conversing on the sidewalk with your s/o is difficult: everyone is listening, and besides, what are you even going to talk about? All of the shops are more or less the same, too--a cellphone store, a computer repair place, a noraebang (or private karaoke room), a convenience store, a Korean restaurant, a crappy western restaurant, a fast food place, a cafe, a small grocery store, a car repair place, a bar specializing in world famous Korean beer, various cram schools, and apartments and office buildings, repeated endlessly, in every direction.

The number of unique or quality institutions in a given Korean megalopolis could fit on a single city block, but they're usually spread out all over the place; moving from one end of town to the other can take hours, unless you have a helicopter. There are few parks, and all of them are jam-packed on a Sunday. There is little variety in this country. The businesses, the banks, and the government, are all in the hands of the old people, who very literally had whatever creativity they possessed beaten out of them by their teachers in grade school. It's a crowded place, and you have to conform.

So you get kind of tired after walking around aimlessly with nothing to do and nowhere to go, and decide to head home to your massive cement apartment building, which was constructed in the middle of a forest of massive cement apartment buildings. Don't forget your address, because they all look exactly the same. You don't feel like walking up thirty flights of stairs, so you wait for the elevator, but it takes forever to come down since so many people are using it.

Once you get back to your room you can't think of anything to do with your free time because you spent most of your life studying or following orders, so you decide to turn on the TV to watch any one of the most popular comedy shows in the country: each is somewhat like Whose Line Is It Anyway, with extra wacky sound effects, random computer animation, and relentless bubbly subtitles. It's all improv, all the time, unless you want to watch one of the formulaic soap operas or yet another documentary featuring old men talking about Chinese calligraphy or old women discussing the delicious food they grow on their farms. In Korea.

Given these factors and choices, it's no surprise to me that the population here is decreasing: there are too many people. I personally don't think Koreans have much of a problem finding people to date (I work at a university and I see couples all over the place), but I do know that they aren't interested in dealing with the burden of raising children. It's expensive, it's difficult, and as other posters have mentioned, there are thousands of other hardworking children (and their relentlessly bored and ambitious unemployed tiger mothers) to compete with: although abortions are illegal here, my wife has a friend who seems to prefer this method of birth control over all others, having done so five times. I doubt her case is uncommon.

tl;dr: There are simply too many people in East Asia, and I don't think anything can solve that problem until you can go outside without having to duke it out with thousands of random strangers on a Sunday morning.

[shameless plug] If you managed to get through this entire post, you should check out my ebook. [/shameless plug]

u/amazon-converter-bot · 8 pointsr/FreeEBOOKS

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

u/Madbrad200 · 8 pointsr/videos

"The Burning Edge". It's a book he wrote under a pseudonym - haven't read it but people seem to think it's good.

u/[deleted] · 7 pointsr/japan

I am Filipino-American born and raised in the US. The only difference is when I first visited Japan, I had some (pathetic) Japanese language capability and I spent 3.5 weeks there with a 7 day JR pass.

> I'm 24 years old, from the US, and I only speak English as I am a Korean American.

Here's the funny thing. When you step outside of the US, you'll just say you're American. If you say otherwise they may try to start using different languages on you or asking you questions you can't answer which is pointless so you end up clarifying you're American anyway.

> Anyone know how racist and xenophobic they will typically be towards Asian Americans like me?

There isn't much xenophobia if you don't understand Japanese and you claim you're there for travel as an American. The reaction is more along the lines of, "oh, nevermind" if they were seeking information or "oh that's nice" because it is understood that you're not going to be there after a few days.

For Asia I've been to Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Of the 3 I would say South Korea has the most immediate xenophobia and racism. In Japan the odds are generally in your favor for getting help even if you can't speak the language. The trick in Japan is to ask anyone that is working like a train station attendant, someone working at a store/restaurant etc. If those people aren't available, then ask someone that is standing around waiting for a friend or someone to show up.

What will be different compared to say a white American's experience is people may assume you are Japanese if you look anything like a Japanese person. If you obviously look Korean, then there might be some other differences. If people assume you're Japanese, they tend to treat you like they would a Japanese person but it probably won't matter because you won't understand what they say to you anyway.

Basically I wouldn't worry about xenophobia and racism if you don't speak the language and you're there for a short period of time. Japanese people's true thoughts won't come out until later in your relationship anyway.

> I'm also a little worried that I don't know any Japanese

You will want to pick up a Japanese phrase book. Here's a few:

http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Japanese-Phrasebook/dp/1742201865/

http://www.amazon.com/Berlitz-Japanese-Phrase-Dictionary-English/dp/9812681574/

The most useful phrase you will use: "sumimasen".

If you want to try a restaurant that doesn't have a menu with pictures, your best bet is to go with "osusume" which is asking for the recommended dish. However, some restaurants don't really have this concept. For example there is not really an "osusume" if you show up to a purely kushikatsu/kushiage restaurant. Also some kushikatsu/kushiage places they'll just keep serving you until you tell them to stop.

If you're having trouble communicating but the person is obviously trying to help you, try writing it down or showing them how it is written on paper. Japanese English writing/reading capability tends to be better than their speaking abilities. Also you may be pronouncing Japanese words incorrectly.

> Any good guides?

I have yet to come across one. This is generally true of any travel. The locals will always know something the guidebooks know nothing about. Things also change really quickly especially in Tokyo.

For example the guidebooks may not mention anything about "you-shoku" which is western style Japanese food. Despite the name, it is actually different from what I've had in Europe and America. They probably also won't mention that super trendy Udon place in Roppongi. Or Donquixote stores. Or Uniqlo stores and the fact that hemming is a free service.

On my first trips before I gathered a lot of Japanese friends, my strategy was simply to ask the hostel/hotel receptionist for recommendations. They usually have something to suggest. Hostel (not hotel) receptionists usually have more creative ideas as they tend to be younger and have done some sort of travel themselves. Hotel receptionists on the other hand are often a little more rigid. This isn't because that's how they normally are but rather just the formalities of Japanese style formal language (keigo).

Tokyo is also 3 dimensional. By that I mean the best places are often hidden on the upper floors of a building or the basement levels and they won't have a huge sign (there's too many signs anyway). The train stations can also be pretty confusing; not all train exits/entrances are equal.

> I'd also like to possibly see the hot springs

They're called onsen and scattered everywhere in Japan. For a better experience you may have to travel outside of Tokyo like to Hakone. I'm no expert on this but I will say they usually have a "cold" pool where the water is...cold. I couldn't manage to submerse myself in it.

> gardens

I don't know of any good gardens in Tokyo, but there is the Imperial Palace East Garden.

> anime merchandise

Akihabara.

> I also really want to see the universities in Tokyo (Univ of Tokyo, Nihon Univ, Tokyo Tech) and possibly meet the college students there.

That's nice but also very optimistic. If you know someone, it's probably great. If you don't, I think it's going to be hard to get around unless you're a naturally charismatic or an outgoing person. If you want to do something like this you're better off contacting someone in Tokyo beforehand and meeting them when you get there. I say this not because I don't think you can do it on the spot, rather you're probably underestimating the difficulties of not being able to read anything and not being able to communicate in English. If your trip is only 6 days in Tokyo, there isn't a lot of time to experiment.

Given that, here's my recommendation for what you should do with your 6 days:

Day 1: Morning: Tsukiji fish market. Afternoon: Ginza.

Since you're jetlagged anyway, Tsukiji early morning. I don't know if they still open the fish auctions to the public, but if they do you will have to take a taxi at 4:30am to make it in before the crowds. Otherwise you can take the first train in the morning. It is best in the morning as you see the weird looking carts driving around.

If you're not too tired, you can head over to Ginza which is two stops away by subway.

Day 2: Morning: Asakusa Sensō-ji. Afternoon: Ueno Ameyoko market, Ueno park if you want. Afternoon/Evening: Akihabara.

Asakusa Sensoji is a famous temple with a walkway that has many shops. The area around it is also Edo-period-ish and has a bunch of shops you wouldn't normally find in other parts of Tokyo. Food is cheap.

Ameyoko market in Ueno has a lot of cheap food products. Stuff like dried fish, fruits, etc.

Akihabara is the anime/electronics/maid cafe area.

Day 3: Morning: Shinjuku. Afternoon: Harajuku + Meiji shrine. Evening: Shibuya

These are are primarily shopping areas. Shinjuku has the Tokyo metropolitan building which has a free observatory. You can go up there can get a free high level view of Tokyo.

Harajuku bridge on Sundays sometimes has people cosplay. If not there is Takeshita street which has lots of shops primarily targeting high schoolers.

Near Harajuku is also Meiji shrine. This is a big shinto shrine but it's a bit of a walk.

Shibuya has Hachiko crossing. Lots of videos on youtube and pictures of this crossing. Shibuya also has a lot of restaurants and cafes.

Day 4: Kamakura

I would actually want to spend 2 days here as you'll need to do a lot of walking to get anywhere. A lot of historical sites/shrines/buddas/etc. Don't bother with the beach, however, it isn't worth seeing.

Day 5: Morning: Odaiba. Evening: Roppongi.

Odaiba is reclaimed land with a bunch of funny looking buildings on it. Sometimes they have real-size Gundam's there. I don't know much about it. There's a Toyota showroom there and a Fuji-TV building I think. There's also a statue of liberty over there.

Roppongi is not really my favorite place but it's worthy a visit I guess. It has a high number of foreigners, bars, clubs, and restaurants. There's also Tokyo Tower there. (But it is probably overrated now that the Sky Tree is open.)

Day 6: Whatever else you want + shopping/packing.

Night stuff:

If you're into the American club/bar scene and you must have your fix in Japan, you've got the foreigner bars/clubs in Roppongi or more Japanese clubs in Shibuya or the most famous Ageha (take the bus from Shibuya). Note: since the trains stop after midnight, the clubs/bars will be dead until ~11pm. Everyone goes from 11pm till 5am and whoever is left takes the first train in the morning.

I highly recommend you make a friend or organize meeting someone before hand because the better stuff should be done in groups:

Izakaya. Japanese Pub would be the translation. But it is organized more like a restaurant. I guess it would be similar to a Korean style bar except the food in Izakaya is usually pretty good and authentic.

Shabu Shabu. It's a hot pot with boiling water. But it is not Hong Kong style where they put flavoring in the broth. Instead you each the meat and vegetables individually first. Then with the left over broth you usually have noodles or rice mixed in with it.

Karaoke.

Food:

I'll let you look up each item.

  • Okonomiyaki
  • Yakitori
  • Yakiniku
  • Kaiten-Zushi
  • Kushikatsu/Kushiage
  • Katsu curry
  • Udon
  • Ramen
  • soba
  • you-shoku
  • takoyaki
  • oden
  • tenpura
  • Mos burger
  • gyuudon

    If you want to drink "sake" the correct word is "nihonshu". If you want the better kind ask for junmai daiginjo.

    If you're really into sushi, you should try to find a place that serves real wasabi made from the root. It doesn't really have the horseradish properties of powered wasabi. If you want to be ruined for life try a piece of good ootoro.
u/DannyFlood · 6 pointsr/digitalnomad

I've been visiting / living in Thailand since 2011, it's a great place to be based in and live. I've traveled most of the country and provinces overland, much of it on a motorcycle, and probably seen as much of the country as anyone alive. I'm fluent in Thai and wrote a book on how to speak Thai: https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Thai-Easiest-Immediately-RocketPack-ebook/dp/B07DK6XT8P

If you think it only deserves two weeks you're only experiencing a very narrow slice of backpacker/tourist Thailand. Leave Khao San, Sukhumvit, Nimmanhamein etc.

Almost any country can be wonderful if you find the neighborhood you love to live in. I didn't like my first week in Seoul but when I discovered Jongno, I fell in love. Same with Kadikoy in Istanbul. In Bangkok I love Thonburi, it feels like home to me.

u/biwook · 5 pointsr/Tokyo

You're looking for Secret Tokyo by /u/pmustiere.

u/ZackPhrut · 5 pointsr/IndiaRWResources
  1. KA Nilkanth Shashtri


    A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar - Amazon Link


    The Illustrated History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar - Amazon Link


    Foreign Notices Of South India - Google Archives


  2. A S Altekar


    Rashtrakutas And Their Times - Google Archives


  3. AL Basham
    The Wonder That Was India: 1


    You can read this book for free on Anybooks app.


    Edit your post and add all these links.
u/xiaojinjin · 4 pointsr/China

Kind of tough to pick just one, as China is vast and there are so many differect aspects of the society worthy of being explored.

I really enjoyed Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside, which was a pretty solid caricature of just about every type of foreigner you meet in China, and a well written story as well, a bit like a more modern, more dynamic River Town.

I think the two most common answers to this question are River Town, by Peter Hessler, and Factory Girls by his wife Leslie Chang. Both are excellent but tackle very different parts of contemporary Chiense culture.

A touch of sin was already mentioned, and it's a very, very good movie. So I'm mentioning it again. If you haven't seen it, go watch it.

u/Ian_James · 4 pointsr/writing

I'll be checking these out, thanks for posting them. Thus far I've found Make A Killing on Kindle to be the most helpful book I've seen (though I read some of Write, Publish, Repeat, and liked that as well).

That first book I mentioned resuscitated my totally moribund sales. I've spent the last year writing about unpopular topics--two books about traveling in Korea and one about a cross-dressing silk trader in the tenth century--and following Michael Alvear's book did get me a few more sales when there had been absolutely zero for about a year. The trouble is that even the top books in Korea-related categories don't seem to sell that well (the historical fiction book was just released and I'm still working on getting some reviews before I focus on promotion).

I liked Michael Alvear's book a lot because it said that social media is more or less a waste of time for selling books, which I found to be the case. Dealing with facebook also makes me feel physically ill.

I try to bear in mind, I try to hope, that the books aren't selling because they suck--they're not selling because no one knows about them. It does seem, unfortunately, like you have to be in the right place at the right time (with a well-crafted story) for things to take off.

I found putting a page at the end of each book with links to your other books, the amazon review page, as well as an email link, to be helpful.

I've been thinking of hauling out the big guns and blowing two hundred dollars on bookbub mostly because it was recommended here, and I'd love to see if anyone else has any experience with that site. Sorry this post was kind of random, I was just pumping out thoughts as they came...

u/BlueHarvestJ · 4 pointsr/Tokyo

I picked up this book. The author posts here sometimes as well.

u/photo-smart · 4 pointsr/suggestmeabook

River Town Not Chinese history per de, but puts the daily lives of modern day Chinese people in an understandable context. It’s also a good read.

u/kamarajitsu · 3 pointsr/LearnJapanese

What country are you in? Some countries can't use the link I provided you have to use your country's Amazon site.
But if you are in the US use this link: https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Japanese-90-Days-Becoming-ebook/dp/B014RTDPBA?ie=UTF8

There should be the option to get the Kindle (free) or paperback (not free). Click the Kindle link and check out on the right (this is how it appears on desktop it may be different for mobile)

If that doesn't help let me know.

Edit: a word

u/Joseph_hpesoJ · 3 pointsr/nottheonion

I read a really great book by Peter Hessler called River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze that had a great bit about his students funny english names. Give it a read if you haven't already.

u/Context_Please · 3 pointsr/travel
u/LESchools · 3 pointsr/shanghai

https://www.amazon.com/SHANGHAI-WALKS-Streets-Changing-Fortune/dp/9627872350 there are four books now, with things to do in Shanghai.

u/ChumbaWambah · 3 pointsr/india

Not Cholas alone, but this book gives factual information of the entire South Indian empires.

u/Willie_Main · 3 pointsr/MisterBald

I think Mr. Bald is a Soviet apologist and has some sort of link to the region. He speaks fluent Russian and has spent a great deal of time there. It has even been rumored that 'Mrs. Bald' is of Belarusian descent. He actually wrote this book under a pseudonym about his travels through Belarus. He had nothing but shining accolades for post-war governments in the region and praised them for being hard on progressive issues like immigration and equal rights for LGBTQ communities. In his Russia vlogs has gone into some detail about his admiration of Putin and his hard stance on organized crime that plagued Russia in the early 90s. I am willing to bet Bald isn't critical of Trump, given Trump's close ties to Putin and Russia, the lifting of sanctions on Russia, and Trump attempting to normalize Russian relations with the west.

I am no fan of Trump, Russia, or Putin, so it was kind of a shocker. It makes me feel conflicted about giving B&B views. He is also pretty close with travel vlogger Harald Baldr, who is a big libertarian and shares a lot of semi-questionable material that encroaches on European Nationalism and white pride. Some of the comments he makes on social media bemoan. the "Islamification" or "Africanization" of Europe. It is very hard to tell if they are being sarcastic or if they are serious.

This vlog really rubbed me the wrong way because of that shit. Right after pretending to step on a picture of President Obama, he went on about how people need to branch out of their home countries and see the big picture. How can a guy who thinks that way support a world leader that preaches for closed borders and isolationism?

u/KPexEAw · 3 pointsr/China

If you haven't already read them I'd suggest reading the books by Peter Hessler.

River Town, two years on the Yangtze

Country Driving: A Chinese road trip

Oracle Bones



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hessler

u/protox88 · 2 pointsr/travel

Is it this book?

Great book - sitting on my shelf right now...

u/darknessvisible · 2 pointsr/IWantToLearn

The best resource for learning spoken Japanese I have come across is the Michel Thomas Method CDs. It's so easy and doesn't feel like "studying" at all. And if you get started now you will have such a massive head start on your classmates next semester.

u/sfrank · 2 pointsr/japan

During our time in Tokyo my wife and I stumbled upon this book (Being A Broad in Japan; Amazon link), which will give you quite a wide range of information about what to expect and how to manage. Though addresses and phone numbers are quite likely out of date, overall the book is an entertaining read.

u/MattBinYYC · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I am a Travel & Tourism student. I've been attempting this program for a really long time and I recently went to Peru with it. I've struggled quite a bit with the program and had some drama influence my grades. But I conquered all this spring and was able to get off academic probation.

I realize how much I want to get my dream job and be the best employee they have :)

I think this would be a good fit, I love studying about other countries and LP books are a good way to do this!

Purple Nurple

u/Neville_Lynwood · 2 pointsr/eFreebies

Tales of A Digital Nomad: A Narrative of Freeing Oneself Through Travel

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T8C7H7Q

FREE until August 4th

> Join Nadia as she frees herself from the mundane and embarks on a journey of digital nomadism, self-revelation, and discovery. Feel the ache of heartbreak with her as Nadia leaves a love behind, and experience the excitement and warmth build as she discovers new friendships on her travels across Asia.

>WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

>“With effortless narrative, this book describes the fear and apathy related to the mundane and the enormous benefits to reap from doing the unusual. That’s what it’s about in the end – the way Nadia breaks away from the common experiences we all have and does the extraordinary. This describes the reality of it, fear and all, and still makes you want to follow in Nadia’s footsteps.”

u/IceThavakalai · 2 pointsr/india

Welcome. I would recommend you start with A History of South India by Sastri, gives you a good overview (be prepared to get a lot of your existing ideas changed though). Move onto A history of medieval India by RC Majumdar. Feel free to dive into Romilla Thapar's History of India series - don't start the other way though with Thapar. Majumdar is THE Indian historian, Sastri, THE historian that chronicled South India, the later historians like Thapar draw heavily on their books anyways. You want a better understanding of medieval India - Jadunath Sarkar is the only source you need to consider. His The Fall of the Mughal Empire covers over some 1500 pages, extensively the period from 1650 to 1800.

There you go, for just Rs 2,000, about 2,500 pages and seriously you would know more about Indian history than idk 95% of the people out there. You can after this branch out into western authors, the Thapars, Habibs etc.

About Kulothunga, well I cracked open my History of South India AND Colas by Sastri - no dice. If anything my memory was correct, till 500 AD all these religions existed in peace though Buddhism was in terminal decline thanks to how dogmatic it had become. Jainism was running rampant, when Saivism and Vaishnavism countered it with the Bhakti movement. The Bhakti movement was mostly saints running around circle jerking each other to death with really high funda arguments - take the schism in the Vaishanavites as an example for how...pointless these arguments were. The Vadakalai branch believed the grace of god had to be earned, the Tenkalai believed by...believing in Vishnu, his grace was a given. That was it, I am picturing a bunch of these guys wearing namams, sitting in a thinnai and arguing each other to the death.

Sastri has nothing on any persecution, and honestly I would rather trust Sastri than Kamal.

Oh, in re-reading these parts, some bonus fun facts - Kulothunga built a Vishnu temple, he sent a trade mission to fucking China and made a huge profit, he lost Sri Lanka (the last Indian king to hold SL) to Veerabahu. On religion, there was some sect called the Radha sect whose only ambition was to be gopis in heaven and get banged by Krishna. They prepared by having monumental orgies on earth - we had hippies before hippies were cool yo! That is 'avar kulcha' :p

u/InternetWeakGuy · 2 pointsr/travel

It's hard to say because prices will have changed a lot since I did it. SE Asia was ballpark about $1000 a month. Australia is significantly more expensive, but work pays really well there. If you're under 30 and from the right country you can get a visa for there and it's super easy to travel between there and SE Asia.

See if you can get your hands on some up to date copies of books like this or this - download them or just go to a bookstore and leaf through - they'll have sections on budgets for each country that will give you an idea of how much you need. As a rule of thumb, add about 15-20% to what they say as by the time you get there they'll be out of date.

Like I said, I budgeted $30 a day for Laos but in a lot of places I lived on $10 a day. In Thailand you can spend $50 a day in Bangkok or the islands, but if you go out into the country you can easily do $20 a day.

It's all about research - but that's easy because research makes you more and more excited about where you're going.

Let me know if I can do anything to help!

u/TheGreenBasket · 2 pointsr/randomactsofkindness

No problem! And if you really, really want I have tons of Japanese books. The best one for basics is this. You can also find it at B&N. Skip to page 113 for social phrases/invites and page 145 for sports.

If you need any help with some basic phrases, pm me.

u/PMUSTIERE · 2 pointsr/JapanTravel

For something a bit different than the standard guides, might I chime in and suggest a guide about Tokyo with a twist (that I actually took a few years to write... kind of self-promotion I know, though I guess it's relevant for this post...)

u/ExcaliburZSH · 2 pointsr/shanghai

Also look into these https://www.amazon.com/SHANGHAI-WALKS-Streets-Changing-Fortune/dp/9627872350 there are currently four books in the series. It a collaboration between expat and locals.

u/mil_ · 2 pointsr/japan

I really enjoyed Lost Japan by Alex Kerr. It's auto-biographical and has some interesting insights from a Westerner who has lived in Japan and seen it change over the past few decades.

u/cryingblackman · 2 pointsr/japanese
u/WeDoTheWeirdStuff · 2 pointsr/Tokyo

Might give Being a Broad in Japan a read to clarify your focus a bit.

u/WhaleMeatFantasy · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

You're not just going to be able to guess/work it out/get an answer in even a long reddit post.

Are you actually studying Japanese? You need a self-study book at the very least (many people recommend the Genki series) or, if you just want to dabble, look at the Pimsleur or Michel Thomas audio series. Another fun approach you may enjoy is Japanese the Manga Way.

It's well worth making the effort. Good luck!

u/wolframite · 1 pointr/japan

While it may have been written in 1985, I would say that The Roads to Sata: A 2000-mile Walk Through Japan by the late Alan Booth (also a compatriot of yours) would be a must-read before coming to Japan as you are - for an extended visit. Reading it may inspire you to look up some of the obscure places that he visited - although not necessarily all on foot as he did. Another of Booth's works published posthumously "Looking for the Lost" is also worth a read (not to be confused with Alex Kerr's Lost Japan - which is also decent although I think Kerr's book could benefit from a stronger editor when he delves too much into his pronounced artsy-fartsy fetishes)

u/daviddian · 1 pointr/BABYMETAL

This book is free at the moment.

u/Cilicious · 1 pointr/travel

I would totally do it. Of course it will be a culture shock. But you would always wonder about how it might have been. Take it from an oldster, the stuff you didn't do haunts you a lot more than the stuff you did.

Look into the author Peter Hessler. His book River Town is a well-written description of what it is like for a Westerner who moves to Asia. Hessler still lives in Beijing. edit: Hessler is now posted in Cairo, though he does plan to return to China.

My younger son joined the Peace Corps moved to China at the beginning of the summer. He is teaching English to highly motivated young engineering students. He is not making tons of money but he likes his job, has a beautiful apartment and busy social life with Chinese friends.

Older son was making good money in Paris, but wanted to re-stimulate his creative juices. He is moving to Mexico City tomorrow with his girlfriend. They can always move back to Paris (or maybe some day he will return to the States.)

We live on a smaller planet these days, and the experiences we have can enrich our lives and broaden our careers.

u/Naughty_Nomad · 1 pointr/MisterBald

>https://www.amazon.co.uk/BURNING-EDGE-TRAVELS-THROUGH-IRRADIATED/dp/1980787514

Um, according to what I see his book is dedicated to a dude named Igor.

u/bluewasabi · 1 pointr/books

Not sure if this really counts for "Modern China", but Red Dust: A Path Through China takes place in the 1980's. I haven't read it personally but it's gotten good reviews and is also on my list of books to read. Same with River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, which is set in the late 1990's.

u/elHuron · 1 pointr/AskEngineers

I've heard that as well; I would just go for it and see what happens.

You may as well get your own opinion and experiences, and if the xenophobia is too much can't you just quit and move back home?

Some cultural integration tips I have off the top of my head:

~ Language ~

Learning even the basics of a language goes a long way in most countries. I don't know about Japan in particular.

Have you learned a language before?

I would recommend getting proficient with the local script and studying from something like a tourist language reference; something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Japanese-Phrasebook-Dictionary/dp/1742201865

A full-blown language course is also good, but those phrasebooks are really good at covering the every day situations you'll be in. So even if you don't know what each word in "omelette du fromage" means, you'll at least know that uttering that incantation will get you a cheese omelette.


~ Cultural Appropriation ~

Try to dress like the locals. For example, If everyone wears a suit, wear a suit. If everyone wears a suit, do not wear t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops.

In general, do what you can to fit in. People will have less to pre-judge you by.

Unfortunately, if you want to take pictures while travelling you will always stand out, but that is unavoidable. I just remind myself that the camera makes me look like a tourist in my hometown as well and quit worrying about it :-)



u/Xis_a_dong · 1 pointr/China

Pierre Elliot Trudeau (not joking it's a good book)

https://www.amazon.ca/Two-Innocents-China-Pierre-Trudeau/dp/1553652541

(Sorry. Don't read read many Chinese authors so watching this thread and figured I would post this. Obviously you need to check out Bo Yang's masterpiece that has been covered here many times)

u/darkmaster_12 · 1 pointr/KotakuInAction

okay keep ignoring documented research from people more experienced than you i guess?

https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Living-Abroad-Japan-Kanagy/dp/1612382975

I read this book which was written by someone who was raised and lived their entire life in Hokkaido, I would trust her 100x more than i'm going to trust you. Sorry.

u/mnemosyne-0002 · 1 pointr/KotakuInAction

Archives for the links in comments:

u/vedeledev · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

Might use Speak Japanese in 90 days to start instead of Tae Kim - any thoughts? The "in X time" title almost scared me off, but from the preview it seems pretty good I think.

The general plan it gives seems fairly simple: read grammar lesson with example sentences > book tells you which vocab/grammar flash cards to make for review > move on to next lesson. Repeat while reviewing old stuff regularly. I just don't know if the explanations themselves are actually good, haven't heard much about these books.

u/kris_lace · 1 pointr/languagelearning

Mhmm I got curious and checked some amazon reviews, if they're anything to go off, this looks pretty cool.

u/tomjapan · -1 pointsr/JapanTravel

Your itinerary looks like a good one, but maybe check out my book (released next week) which has advice on things to see and do for just this kind of short trip to Japan, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FNRR95I
I'm a professional travel writer and have been living in Japan for ten years, so you'll get all the inside knowledge you need :)